I have seen nearly every Ring film in the cinema (the one I am missing is the Korean one, which I believe may be the best as it does not have spooky kid). Anyway, I was interested by The Ring 2 mainly because it was the original Ringu and Ringu 2 director’s stab at a Hollywood version, and because he certainly would not remake the astonishingly disappointing Ringu 2.
The Ring 2 takes Gore Verbinski’s very good Ring adaptation and respectfully junks much of it for a pretty straight ghost story. That it is a pretty good ghost story is its plus point. The fact that it almost completely drops the “technology’s gonna getcha” side of the Ring films is a pity. It does seem to play with Hideo Nakata’s obsession with water, recently vented in Dark Water. This he manages to do with the full Hollywood special effects budget which means the film has a wonderful water repulsion scene. Shying away from obvious jump shocks, the film is still a satisfying, if small, ghost story. Pity the kid is so fucking annoying.